The Thickness of Blood
by mrhiddles
Summary: "I mean to make us brothers. True brothers."


"_O bright face of the Sun_

_Of this world and of all others_

_Hearken well to what is said here,_

_And burn our words_

_Across the bright skies"_

_Bonding of Brotherhood, The Rites of Odin, Ed Finch_

OOO

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Marvel, or the Norse.**

OOO

It had been a mistake on his part, doing such a thing when they were so young. A mistake he'd look back on in a thousand years and flinch at the memory of the knife slicing through the padded flesh of his palm, of the wet dirt sliding beneath his bare feet, of Thor's own bleeding palm pressed tightly to his own, stinging.

They were brothers. The very word did no justice to the bond they shared.

And it was his fault.

OOO

"You are certain, Loki, this is no trick?"

"Of course, foolish Thor," Loki said, waving at Thor to hurry up. Eir walked the halls with a gaggle of her handmaids and he wanted to be rid of them quickly. How else would they ever reach the woods beyond the palace grounds?

"I am no fool," came Thor's chastising tone.

Loki was immune to it. "You distrust your own brother; that makes you fool enough to me. Come, come, we must move now or never at all!"

He glared back when Thor did not immediately follow, so Loki grabbed for his wrist and pulled him along, crouching low so that they would not be seen. Cutting the courtyard was always tricky business, and he wished he had mastered the cloaking spell he'd been studying. He barely knew enough of it to hide himself, let alone Thor as well.

"What makes you—" Thor began, but Loki tightened his grip enough to pain Thor into silence. He jerked his arm, but Loki held tight. He would not lose Thor now; he would not lose this day. They had to do it today. Today was the only time they had. He feared any other day taken the chance would slip from him, again and again, like water.

Eir passed out of sight along with her handmaids and they were free to sprint quickly across long courtyard. They were young and small compared to many in Asgard, but they were fast. Loki actually reached the edge of the courtyard first, breathing hard, but first all the same. Thor came up behind him and shoved his shoulder playfully enough. Loki rolled his shoulder and smoothed out his tunic.

He pointed in the distance, along the expanse of the rolling hills, and the vague dusting of forestry just beyond.

"We must not stop until we reach those trees. Anything before and we risk being caught by the Einherjar. Despite your reluctance at my sudden idea, I don't think you favor being caught in anything, do you, Thor?"

"Aye, true enough. I simply do not understand why we must sneak about and do it in secret. And you refuse to show me what you carry in that leather pouch of yours." He lowered his voice, "And the things you made me bring today, what are they needed for?"

He stilled, eyeing Thor beside him. He reached out hesitant fingers and touched them to Thor's wrist for a scant moment.

"We are brothers, are we not?"

Thor looked astonished he would even ask such a thing. He nodded, blond strands falling across his brow. "Of course, Loki. Of course."

He withdrew his hand and readied himself for another go at running. He'd done a lot of it lately, running from those he stole from, those he'd fooled by shifting…failing to maintain the appearance of those he shifted into. Thor ran just as much as he but it was easier for him, as he already had the beginnings of musculature lining the growth of his legs. Thor was growing faster than he was.

He was running out of time.

"Come on." And he took off running.

OOO

There had been a small farm settled in amongst the hills that Loki had forgotten. It was just inside the deepest valley and hidden from where the palace sat. Men tilled the field in dirtied pants and ripped shirts, some foregoing them altogether. Women tilled alongside them, the younger ones carrying baskets of wheat and other such produce. A mill was a ways off, and a collecting bin wherein Loki knew Asgard received a lot of there of their food. He'd forgotten how many people were out here.

_Stupid_.

It was Thor who had wrapped an arm about his waist and lifted him for a terrifying instant, out of sight of a young girl who carried a basket of wheat stalks. The seeds littered her clothing and hair and he was sure she'd seen them, but she said nothing, and didn't approach them. Thor kept an arm across his chest, pressing him back against the building's side as he looked out and around the farm to see if anyone else was coming.

If it was found that _both_ princes of Asgard were out skulking around in the valleys of farms and the dark depths of the outer lying forests, the punishment would be severe. Severe enough to see Loki's books taken away and Thor's training put on hold. Odin would see to that.

Loki pushed Thor's arm away and glanced around himself, watching as the same girl kept on her way, eyes trained straight ahead. But her head kept angling slightly to the side, like she was hoping to catch sight of them.

"The middle of the day, Loki—" But Thor was being grabbed by his arm again and so abandoned his chiding in favor of following Loki once more, if only to discover what he was being led to.

"Brother, please, why today? You insist so intensely," Thor said, his voice reaching Loki like a stone to his focus. He didn't bother looking back, but he released him.

They were nearly at the woods; it would not do to dally any longer…though they had a few minutes. The clouds above still hung wet and heavy above, light of Asgard's stars spilling through to soak the land below, their sun nearly at its highest point in the sky. Not yet hot enough to dry the land but close enough to new rainfall.

"Spare me any other questions in exchange for one answer?" Thor nodded. "It rained only yesterday. Drops spilled early this very morning, even. I would have our work be done _right_."

"Right?"

"You are insufferable. If you hurry, you will see."

OOO

When they reach the forest, the sun is nearly where Loki needs it to be. They don't have much time.

In here, there is quiet, there is peace. The same could not be said of anywhere else in Asgard, or the many realms, though Loki suspected there could be places out there he'd one day see. But here, it was unique. This forest was their forest. No other place could rival it.

"Can I talk now, Loki?" Thor questioned him idly, looking around. Loki shrugged, not really confirming or denying. He'd be content with quiet until they reached the spot, but they could speak here without interruption.

"Well, I am going to talk, because we are nearly in the thickest part of this insipid forest and—"

"Insipid? I did not know you knew of such a large word, brother." Loki laughed when Thor moved to slap at his arm.

"It will rain again soon enough, and I have no wish of being trapped in a forest when it does. And besides, will that not ruin your grand scheme? Your goal was to avoid any attention being drawn to us, and if we return soaking wet with our pant legs covered in mud and leaves there will be questions."

"Which is why we will be finished with our task before the rain comes."

"Where are we headed then?"

"Do you remember the time when I was very small and was lost in here?"

"…Aye," Thor confirmed, tentativeness in his voice at the memory. "You had been terrorized by a land Wight."

He rolled his eyes, looking out into the distant trunks of trees, determining which way to go. It had been so many years.

"You cried so much I thought you'd never calm down. Young Balder does not even cry as much as you did."

"Quiet," Loki murmured, still looking around. He judged the distance and set off to the East.

Thor continued on, lost in the memory of it, as they walked. "Later, you'd been so silent I thought you'd died with your eyes open. You were so frightened, Loki…"

"Well, the fact remains it was nothing but a wayward land spirit, trapped. Freyja saw to it fast enough."

"That she did, but you had not said that then. You were terrified."

It was quiet for a long while that Loki thought he'd finally run out of things to say. He even allowed himself to indulge in a bit of that terrible memory himself. But it was not so.

"You would not close your eyes. You would not sleep. You even came to my bed those few nights, do you remember?" Loki nodded absently, biting his tongue where it lay hidden in his mouth. He climbed over a large root and waited as Thor did the same. "The first thing you said was that you swore never to venture here again."

"Aye."

Thor gripped his shoulder and turned him around. They stopped walking.

"Then why are you here then? If you are so quick to be done with it, why do it at all in the first place?" he demanded.

"It is not that silly fear that has me wanting to be done with this quickly, it is because of the weather, and the position of the sun." He pointed upward. "You do not pay much attention to these things, but it is important enough to guide the laws of which we will respect today."

"Laws? What do you mean to do here, Loki? Are we going to that spot I found you at?"

"Yes, with the cluster of rock, corroded around the edges."

Thor looked somewhere beyond Loki and then met his eyes once more. "I remember the place…but it will take at least an hour of walking. Why?"

A frown and then he was digging through the leather pouch at his side. He pulled a jar out and then replaced it when he lifted up a small, sheathed blade. He could tell Thor recognized it as the one he'd given him the year before, on his nameday. Thor eyed it in confusion until Loki brought it out to hold before him.

"I mean to make us brothers. True brothers."

Thor shadowed his hands to sheathe the blade once more. He half smiled. "Loki, we _are_ brothers? Why so eager to make true what already is?"

He pulled his hands free and placed the blade within the pouch once more. He placed a hand atop it, feeling the ghost of that doubt in his chest like a painful shove. He feared for something. And he hated not knowing what it was, or _why_. It just…

"I need…I need to know," he started, voice quiet. "I need to make sure you will not forget me."

"_What?_ That is truly, _truly_, the most idiotic thing I've ever heard come from your mouth, brother. And there have been many things—"

Loki snapped his eyes to Thor's and effectively silenced him. "Do not deny me this. I would know you are my brother, always."

Startled by how passionate Loki was, and perhaps a bit frightened, Thor nodded slowly. He reached both hands up to grip Loki's shoulders. "I would deny you nothing, little brother of mine. You know that."

"I know that."

But maybe he didn't, entirely.

OOO

The items he'd brought consisted only of a small bundle of red thread Thor had gifted him with long ago, a small jug of spring water, a smaller jar of wine, a linen-wrapped bundle of bread and a large enough cloth to spread out below them, dyed gold with splashes of red. Thinner, brighter strands of golden threadwork outlined the cloth in elegant script, depicting runes and the names of their fathers' father's. It had belonged to Thor when he was a babe, and it had been given to him when he'd been born.

Loki watched as Thor took up the soft cloth and unfolded it to see what was once his. He smiled again, eyes brightening, before he folded it back up fondly. Loki had not known he was capable of such gentleness.

Thor had stared at the red thread for a long time, but said nothing as Loki set out the rest of what he'd brought. His expression was unreadable, another rarity, and so Loki knew he was thinking quite a many thing in that moment.

"Now you. What did you bring?"

"Oh." Thor dug inside the pockets of his pants, hidden under the thick tunic he wore. "I knew not what you meant, entirely…but I tried to bring what I could." He brought out two handfuls of random items that most of which Loki recognized, some he didn't.

There was the jar of lizard tails he'd collected two years prior one summer, still new from the charm Loki had taught himself. There was the golden band he'd crafted a few months prior for Thor's own nameday.

But then there was also a small woven band of thick, black thread that he did not remember ever seeing. There was also a small gathering of chokecherries that had been wrapped in ragged cloth. Loki did not delve too deep in thought of _why_ and simply laid out Thor's items with his own atop the cloth he'd brought.

"Did you not bring the chalice?"

Thor's eyes widened and Loki knew then that he had forgotten the thing. He sighed and stood, looking down at all that they'd assembled. Then he looked to the sky and gauged the time they had between the sun's path and what they had to do.

"I can go back and—"

"Irrelevant," Loki muttered. He brought forth the knife again, and lowered it to his side when he remembered a small detail. "Take off your shoes," he said, pulling off his own boots one at a time. He stood barefoot in the softened dirt, still slightly damp from the previous rainfall, waiting for Thor to do the same.

When Thor tossed his shoes a ways off behind them, Loki bent and grabbed up the jug of spring water. He popped it open with his thumb and stepped a ways to the side so that it would not splash the cloth and their things as he poured it out over the dirt where they would stand. Behind him a half dozen magpies sat with dark eyes atop the barely standing rock wall, laden with moss and webs of spiders. One spread its wings every now and again clucking its small wormy tongue against the roof of its beak.

He ignored the lurch in his stomach.

"Thor, come stand here. Yes, and now we—"

"Do we not listen, or wait, or something?"

Loki was surprised. "Yes. Yes, we do." He allowed the barest hint of a smile to show and Thor's pride was obvious in his own wide grin.

Loki did not know what Thor was remembering as he crossed his arms before him and closed his eyes, head angled to the ground. He did not presume to know.

Loki was remembering that Wight. It had been just a spirit, lost…freed by the runes Freyja worked so expertly. She had inspired in him a desire to learn more of the magic word. He wanted to master the art. He would never again fall to the ruse of some wayward soul. Never. He had barely been four when it had happened, something Frigga took care to remind him of whenever the subject was brought up. He was no longer bothered by it of course, he simply liked remembering the way Thor fussed over him. It had been the first time he could remember that Thor showed interest in him. Had been the first time he had saved his life.

He thought of how, soon, Thor would be given access to the mighty vault of Asgard's past Kings. How he would be allowed, in the company of their father, Odin, to learn all there was to know about those sacred objects. Loki didn't know what was held within, and he yearned to know. He wondered what object Thor would choose to train with. Wondered what would bring down judgment in the company of his words as Gungnir did Odin's, some day far off in the future.

He worried if he would ever be granted access there.

Thor shifted suddenly, from one foot to the other, settling his weight on one leg, and Loki could not keep his eyes off Thor's face across from him. He wondered what would happen this day. If it would hurt when he drew his own blood. He wondered what would become of them in a week, a year, in centuries. He could not fathom such a long time ahead. He worried, ceaselessly, about what would happen in their futures.

Loki last thought of the Norns, and then he cleared his voice, drawing Thor out of his own reverie. He had no desire to think much on three Wymen he feared as much as he pondered every sleepless night.

"Now, we must speak to the elements that bind all existence in plausible reality. We must pay tribute to that which allows us our lives…so to speak." He shrugged, remembering words he'd witnessed other men speak of.

Facing the East, Loki spoke strongly, "Norðri, who brings us snow to refresh our streams, Suðri, who brings us warmth and peace, Austri, who brings us the breeze to mark our crops health, and Vestri, who brings us our will to conquer, mark what is to be said this day. Great storms that ravage realms and calming waters that soothe our beaches, carve our words upon that Ashen trunk. Hearken well to what is said here."

Thor was absolutely enraptured, and looked ready to listen to more. So Loki had to nudge him when he was finished and say, "Face the South, you twit, and say what you feel you need to."

Thor did so, raising a hand somewhat belatedly. Loki crossed his arms and waited, listening. Thor looked up to the sky.

"Oh, the many nebulae that dot Asgard's skies, and the sun that feels it needs to rise each day, turning warmly overhead…" He looked to Loki quickly and then back up. "Oh, our great skies that stretch across all, and to that winding bridge that lets us travel everywhere…know our words for truth and more than truth. Burn our words into the sky."

When he met Loki's eyes once more, Loki nodded, impressed. He turned to the West this time and raised his own hand, mimicking Thor's thoughtful gesture.

"To those bestial giants from which the world-tree arose, take our words and sew them as seeds to grow forevermore. Hearken well our bond so that it may grow as strong and everlasting as Yggdrasil itself."

Finally catching on, Thor turned on his own towards the North and raised both arms high above him.

"To all living and thriving and those who are savaged and perishing, lands, seas, air, and energy, may our words reach you all. We are brothers, Loki and I! And I would have every realm here and beyond know of the words we speak today! May those three sisters engrave our threads long and thick along the trunk of that great tree. I will engrave our words upon every stone I see!"

"Careful, Thor, or you may call down fabled Surtur all by yourself." But he was smiling as he said it, not bothering to hide it away as he gathered the knife up and unsheathed it.

The blade glimmered brightly in the filtered sun, and made Loki hold it out more fully in front of him. He pressed one foot deep into the soft mud of the ground under them, freshly wetted by the spring water. He pointed for Thor to do the same, and so Thor shadowed his own step.

"Here," Loki said, taking Thor's left hand in his own. He turned it palm up and held the blade of the knife just above.

Thor took the knife from him and pulled his hand away. Loki nearly protested, shocked that Thor would back out at a time like this. But all he said was, "Loki, we cut ourselves."

Loki could only watch as Thor quickly slid the blade across the line of his open palm, blood welling immediately. He barely winced, but the image of Thor biting his lip in pain would forever be burned into his memory. His invincible older brother, vulnerable, if only for a short moment.

Best to be done with it quickly, lest he loose his stomach upon the ground. He was suddenly in a wary mood, and did not trust his stomach entirely. Loki was handed the knife and so he held the edge against the crease of his palm, breathed out, in. His mouth thinned as he dragged it across his skin, the air hitting it like a cold blast in contrast to the warmth of his own blood. It spilled thick across his flesh and he met Thor's eyes to not be lost in the red of it.

Thor held his gaze as he held up his hand, waiting for Loki to do the same. Their blood dripped to the ground, mixing with the spilt water and the morning-fresh, earthy mud. The wet dirt slicked between his toes as he strengthened his stance to clasp hands with Thor as tightly as he could. Tightly as he dared. It stung, but the bite of it was wonderful, and he felt his nervous stomach soothe at the distraction of pain.

Thor spoke then, surprising Loki. "As long as Yggdrasil stands, and Nidhogg gnaws away at her mighty roots, as long as there is breath in mine lungs and strength in mine step, do I bind myself to you as your brother, Loki. Side by side we shall fight, and conquer, and vanquish giants, we will protect each other, and we will rule together. Someday," he added, a bit more quietly.

Momentarily vacant of any words he had readied along his tongue, Loki only stared at Thor. He was learning quite a bit about him today. His grip on his brother's hand tightened at the images Thor's words provoked and felt that there was truly the whisper of magic in the air, along with his intent.

He swallowed thickly, throat hurting, and said, "Odinson's we are, we will always be. We shall journey all the many realms together, and will find even more. I swear, by the earth under our feet, and the skies above, we will be brothers. Always."

"I swear on the many namedays I shall hopefully come to see in the future, I will always be your friend, and I will see you by my side as my closest kin."

"Not even Valhalla's tempting gates could lure us apart."

"Not for all the honor in the world, Loki."

They sat after. And they ate the little food they'd brought. They shared the wine as well, and Thor found he did not much like the taste of it. Loki had held the lizard tails he'd given to Thor prior, and eyed him, wondering. Thor had only shrugged, no justification in keeping a thing he'd never have need of, needed. Loki had moved his thumb once, twice across the ridged lid of it and then replaced it delicately back on the cloth. Loki had eaten a chokecherry to the widened eyes of Thor, but he decided he didn't really like the berry as much as he thought he would.

The thread was never brought up, but Loki saw Thor wrap the red twine around his fingers absently, lost in thought Loki suspected he'd never know the truth of.

It did not matter now anyway.

They were still so young.

He had thousands of years of time to find out.

OOO

There were no words for what he'd caused.

No words at all.

Any he had been left with had been ripped away that first time Thor had broken the first bridge among many.

He was guilty of such loss, and would continue to be.

And yet he could still feel the dirt slide underfoot and the thick warmth of blood seeping through their hands.

On particular days he would go quiet and remember the bitter tang of copper edging along his nostrils and the way Thor so readily abandoned the idea of honor, just like he always would.

"_Not for all the honor in the world, Loki."_

Not for all the honor in the world.

There had never been any honor.

Not for him.

There had only ever been Thor.

He only ever had his brother.

Now even he was gone.

OOO

**I start college on Monday! :D So in celebration, have some long overdue brofeels. I tried to write that 'five times they shared blood and one time they didn't or one time they became brothers' thing and it just didn't flow right, so have a oneshot.**

**Broken Things and the sequel to The Harbinger are being worked on, life has just been stressful and busy lately.**

**Love you all immensely! 3**


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